Strange Country at Chairo

Local musicians Steve Messer and Steve Camp performed together on stage for the first time in late 1986.

Forty years on, their partnership continues as strong as ever, now alongside several faithful music-making mates who comprise Steve Messer's Strange Country.
To celebrate this special milestone, the band will be appearing in Drouin at The Balfour, Chairo Christian School's 400-seat theatre, for an anniversary concert on the evening of Saturday 10 October.
Combining flavours of country, blues and gospel into an original, uptown-downhome, pre-post-modern, rhythm 'n bluegrass musical stew, the band comprises songwriters Steve Messer (harmonica, mandolin, vocals) and Steve Camp (guitar, vocals), with Rod Boreham (bass), Mike Stritch (drums), Darryl Thompson (guitars, dobro, accordion, keyboards) and Charlie Van Den Belt (guitars).
Over the years, Strange Country has performed across Victoria and interstate, including for many years at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and has backed numerous other artists in need of a quick-learning and versatile band.
Steve Messer was twice the winner of the Hohner Golden Harmonica Championship at Tamworth, before judging the award in subsequent years. Additionally, their album, 'Country Bazaar', earned finalist nominations at the Tamworth TIARA awards and Victorian Country Music Awards.Joining them in The Balfour as they celebrate turning forty will be old friends Dave Diprose and Peter York from Melbourne, plus Terry Darmody from Sydney, Wendy Cohrane from Warwick (Queensland) and Bruce O'Hara from Tamworth.
Terry Darmody spent years singing in folk and rock bands, appearing alongside Australian musical legends Skyhooks, Paul Kelly, Daddy Cool, The Dingoes and many more. He is now a purveyor of righteously blue gospel-a-billy, a true musical livewire!Wendy Cochrane has travelled the country experiencing first-hand the diverse people and landscapes of Australia and turning them into gutsy original songs, while Bruce O'Hara toured for years with his country-gospel band, Country Sound, and also anchored the 6:00 to midnight shift on Tamworth's 2TM, beaming classic country music far and wide.
Join Steve Messer's Strange Country and their special guests as they mark four decades of musical camaraderie. Tickets are available for just $15 (or four for $45) from www.trybooking.com/DPHUD.